What's Worth Saving (Is Never Worth Letting Go to Waste)

Chapter 25: Gotta Get Back, Gotta Get Free

Compared to the horrors Tommy has endured throughout his life, many would consider his limbo a peaceful afterlife. To anyone else, the void would feel peaceful, maybe even welcoming. But whatever deity decided his eternal torture knew his mind better than anyone.

Trapped in the void, Tommy was more alone than he'd ever been.

Dream had begun to get more creative with how he killed him recently. Perhaps the monster had grown tired of simply bashing his head in, of letting the aching of Tommy's cracked skull and the feeling of blood sticking to his hair and skin be his only company in limbo. Instead, he'd begun to use weapons more, running him through with his sword or slicing his throat open with a well aimed blow from his axe. All Tommy really felt grateful for was the fact sometimes the newer methods killed him quicker.

Tommy had begun to cherish the pain his deaths would bring. Revival would sew up his wounds immediately, but the pain would remain throughout the duration of his stays in limbo. The agony was something he held onto desperately , needing to have some sort of feeling to convince himself he was real while every other one of his senses were left useless in the endless abyss.

Tommy couldn't help but feel reminded of Logstedshire, of waking up underwater and for a moment simply floating beneath the salty waves, clarity not yet coming to him to let him know of how much danger he was in. He'd only really be able to snap out of his disassociation when he dared breathe, the saltwater filling his lungs shocking his system and forcing his brain to function well enough to let the rest of his body know he needed to get back to the surface.

Revival reminded him of the saltwater, in a way. A cold shock full of agony to let him know part of him is alive once more.

Sometimes, after Dream revives him, he'd ask him questions about his stay. About the revival, about how everything looked and sounded and how it felt to be torn apart and sewn together over and over again. Tommy would give him his answers, and Dream would turn his head to Karl with a wolfish grin and await the traveler's horrified reaction. Tommy always felt horrible those times, when Dream savored his control over the two and used it to further hurt Karl, wrapping his strings tighter and tighter around his newest puppet.

Tommy hated him. Part of him had resigned already, accepting the fact that even Kinoko wouldn't be able to protect him from Dream, but Tommy was unable to let himself give up the moment Dream decided to target Karl.

Karl had been one of the first to make Tommy feel truly welcome at the kingdom, the first person he truly felt like he could discuss exile with. The man who months ago would've been considered a stranger had become Tommy's brother , and once Tommy shared a piece of himself with someone he could never fully take it back.

Tommy refused to fully give up, refused to allow himself to believe Dream's lies and manipulation. The part of his mind wrapped up in honeyed words begs for him to lessen the pain and resign, but Tommy doesn't care what Dream does to him. He cares for Karl, and for what Dream is doing to his brother when he can't stop him.

So when he feels the strings wrap around himself again, Tommy does not fight the pain of revival, doesn't cry out for help because he knows the void cares not for his plight. He allows himself to defy the very fabric of reality for what feels like the hundredth time and be dragged back to the land of the living.

Dream doesn't gloat this time, simply ruffling Tommy's hair lightly as he turns to Karl with a smile.

"I'm a man of my word." The monster says, and Tommy's vision blurs as he tries to pull himself together, ignore the pain and try to understand what's going on around him. He immediately pulls away from Dream's touch, wincing at the sudden movement making his head throb. "I trust you'll be of yours?"